I'm sure that the President of the United States does not believe it was appropriate for Senator Kerry to bring up the war in Iraq, deficits, education, taxes, health care or anything else, either. That's beside the point.

Dick Cheney hasn't scrupled about using his daughter as a political tool in the past -- as a matter of fact, specifically to put a "human face" on the Bush administration.

Nor did Cheney object when Edwards mentioned her in the vice-presidential debate.

Nor, for that matter, have Cheney or Bush ever publicly repudiated Alan Keyes (R-Psych Ward) for not only bringing up her "selfish, hedonistic" lifestyle, but calling her a "sinner."

The question asked of both candidates, lest anyone forget, came down to "is homosexuality a choice?" Bush droned on about the Defense of Marriage Act for a bit in response. Kerry didn't knock it out of the park (sorry for the baseball allusion, Radley, but I couldn't think of a better one that didn't involve double entendre); he just pointed out that he was sure the Cheneys loved their daughter and didn't regard her as having made some conscious choice to defy their deeply held beliefs, but rather as someone who is who she is.

If this is the best spin the GOP can come up with on the debate, they might as well pack it in and take the next two weeks off. There's nothing controversial about this except among the desperate.

I'm sure that the President of the United States does not believe it was appropriate for Senator Kerry to bring up the war in Iraq, deficits, education, taxes, health care or anything else, either. That's beside the point.

Dick Cheney hasn't scrupled about using his daughter as a political tool in the past -- as a matter of fact, specifically to put a "human face" on the Bush administration.

Nor did Cheney object when Edwards mentioned her in the vice-presidential debate.

Nor, for that matter, have Cheney or Bush ever publicly repudiated Alan Keyes (R-Psych Ward) for not only bringing up her "selfish, hedonistic" lifestyle, but calling her a "sinner."

The question asked of both candidates, lest anyone forget, came down to "is homosexuality a choice?" Bush droned on about the Defense of Marriage Act for a bit in response. Kerry didn't knock it out of the park (sorry for the baseball allusion, Radley, but I couldn't think of a better one that didn't involve double entendre); he just pointed out that he was sure the Cheneys loved their daughter and didn't regard her as having made some conscious choice to defy their deeply held beliefs, but rather as someone who is who she is.

If this is the best spin the GOP can come up with on the debate, they might as well pack it in and take the next two weeks off. There's nothing controversial about this except among the desperate.